fix(onboard): settle OpenClaw pairing after rebuild (#10479)

[jiaqiang000]

Outcome

Rebuilding an ordinary OpenClaw sandbox (nemoclaw {sandbox} rebuild --yes) now leaves the sandbox usable immediately: the rebuilt container settles OpenClaw device pairing before onboarding reports success, exactly like fresh onboarding. Previously a successful rebuild left a brand-new container with no canonical CLI pairing, so the first agent command failed with the embedded-fallback error until a manual recover re-approved pairing.

Reason

Rebuild recreates the container from the image, and the OpenClaw machine-local pairing state lives in the identity and devices state directories, which are declared backup: false in agents/openclaw/manifest.yaml and wiped with the old container during destroy (wipeSandboxState). The rebuilt sandbox therefore starts with no canonical CLI device. The rebuild-handoff optimization added in #9844 made finalization compute ordinaryOpenClawPairingRequired = ... && recreateJournalHandoff !== true, skipping settleOrdinaryOpenClawPairing() on the assumption that gateway device pairing survives container recreation. It does not, so no component ever re-established the CLI device pairing and the sandbox stayed broken. The skip's original motivation (avoiding a host-side pairing-approval prompt during rebuild) no longer exists: the in-sandbox watcher is the sole scope-upgrade approver (#10322), so settlement is non-interactive, and for an already-settled pairing it is a read-only observation that returns immediately.

Related issues

Fixes #10479

Changes

• src/lib/onboard/machine/handlers/finalization.ts — remove the recreateJournalHandoff !== true condition from both finalization handlers so ordinary OpenClaw pairing settlement runs on rebuild handoff just as on fresh onboarding. The observed defect was a host-side deterministic pairing-skip decision, not a platform-specific behavior.
• src/lib/onboard/machine/flow-context.ts, core-flow-phases.ts, final-flow-phases.ts — remove the recreateJournalHandoff plumbing that only served this suppression. The same-named signal in handlers/sandbox-resume.ts is independent and stays (it owns the journaled-recreate resume decision, not the pairing gate).
• Regression tests: rebuild-pairing-handoff.test.ts runs the flow phases with the real finalization handlers and injected dependencies and proves a journaled rebuild handoff settles ordinary OpenClaw pairing before deployment verification (review follow-up on fix(onboard): settle OpenClaw pairing after rebuild (#10479) #10493); finalization.test.ts keeps the settlement-after-recovery-before-verification ordering test.

Why removal rather than a rebuild-specific repair: recreate already goes through the same sandbox registration and policy pipeline as fresh onboarding, so the smallest direct change is to let the pairing gate treat rebuild like fresh — no new mechanism, no new state, and settleOrdinaryOpenClawPairing is already the single authority for pairing readiness.

Verification

• npm run typecheck:cli — passed.
• npx vitest run --project cli src/lib/onboard/machine/handlers/finalization.test.ts src/lib/onboard/machine/rebuild-pairing-handoff.test.ts src/lib/onboard/machine/handlers/sandbox-resume.test.ts src/lib/onboard/machine/final-flow-phases.test.ts src/lib/onboard/machine/final-flow-phases.runtime.test.ts src/lib/onboard/machine/core-flow-phases.test.ts src/lib/onboard/machine/handlers/sandbox-recreate-journal.test.ts — passed (30 direct + adjacent flow/resume/journal tests).
• npm run test:titles:check, npm run checks:repository — passed.
• npx oxfmt --check <changed files> — all formatted; npx oxlint <changed files> — 0 warnings, 0 errors.
• Pre-commit and pre-push hook stages via npx prek run --files <changed files> — all passed (including gitleaks and TypeScript CLI checks).
• Full cli project (npx vitest run --project cli, 21,562 tests / 1,379 files): 49 failures across 12 files. Baseline comparison on unmodified main (changes stashed) shows the same failures — this host's Python 3.9 does not support type | type syntax used by some tests, the local Docker daemon is unavailable, and macOS timeout/network-dependent tests fail as documented in CONTRIBUTING.md (macOS Test Dependencies); none import the changed modules. No new failures.
• Live reproduction and fix verification (macOS, Apple Silicon / arm64, Docker Desktop runtime, OpenClaw 2026.7.1, DeepSeek Anthropic-compatible endpoint, sandbox nemo-repro):
  • Buggy main (4222c10): node dist/nemoclaw.js nemo-repro rebuild --yes succeeded; the next node dist/nemoclaw.js nemo-repro agent --agent main -m "Reply with exactly READY" exited 1 with OpenClaw is running in embedded-fallback mode in sandbox 'nemo-repro': gateway pairing is broken or missing. — exactly the issue's Actual Result.
  • This branch: the same rebuild command succeeded; the same agent command exited 0 with READY, with no manual recover step.
  • The two runs differ only in this change's pairing-settlement fix; sandbox image, workspace state, and inference provider were identical. Official confirmation on the issue's Ubuntu 24.04 x86_64 platform remains with NV QA (issue [Ubuntu 24.04][Sandbox] rebuild leaves OpenClaw sandbox in embedded-fallback mode, requires manual recover #10479 carries the NV QA / UAT labels).
• No secrets, API keys, or credentials are committed.

Review notes

• Detection gap (per CONTRIBUTING.md, QA-style escaped defect): the rebuild-openclaw live E2E target never asserted that an agent command succeeds immediately after rebuild. That semantic dimension (post-rebuild pairing readiness) is missing from automated live coverage, so the regression escaped into UAT. Community-side manual verification now exists (macOS arm64, above), but the automated live assertion still requires the Brev/OpenShell boundary and remains a follow-up for NV QA or a maintainer with runner access, covered by Fixes [Ubuntu 24.04][Sandbox] rebuild leaves OpenClaw sandbox in embedded-fallback mode, requires manual recover #10479.
• The issue still carries needs: triage; this fix only restores behavior the rebuild contract already documents in docs/reference/commands.mdx and docs/manage-sandboxes/lifecycle.mdx, and creates no new integration, recipe, custom image, or product surface (Product Scope Gate not triggered).

---

Signed-off-by: 橘猫 2622045569@qq.com

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Improved onboarding recovery so ordinary pairing is completed after a process rebuild before deployment verification begins.
  • Prevented verification from starting while pairing remains pending.
  • Preserved sandbox fingerprint routing during recovery handoffs.

• Tests

  • Expanded coverage for pairing settlement and event order during process recovery.
  • Updated pairing-related test coverage and removed obsolete scenarios.

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The rebuild flow no longer propagates recreateJournalHandoff. Finalization and post-verification now require ordinary OpenClaw pairing. Tests verify pairing settlement before deployment verification.

Changes

Rebuild pairing behavior

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Remove handoff context propagation src/lib/onboard/machine/core-flow-phases.ts, src/lib/onboard/machine/final-flow-phases.ts, src/lib/onboard/machine/flow-context.ts, src/lib/onboard/machine/handlers/finalization.ts, src/lib/onboard/machine/rebuild-pairing-handoff.test.ts	The flow context, handler options, and test context no longer include recreateJournalHandoff.
Require pairing during rebuild finalization src/lib/onboard/machine/handlers/finalization.ts, src/lib/onboard/machine/handlers/finalization.test.ts, src/lib/onboard/machine/rebuild-pairing-handoff.test.ts	Finalization and post-verification select ordinary OpenClaw pairing without the rebuild-handoff exemption. Tests use real handlers and verify pairing completes before deployment verification.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to a67d1

The change restores pairing readiness after sandbox rebuilds so users can run agents immediately; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains after normal checks and review.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant RebuildFlow
  participant Finalization
  participant Pairing
  participant PostVerification
  participant DeploymentVerification
  RebuildFlow->>Finalization: invoke finalization
  Finalization->>Pairing: settle ordinary OpenClaw pairing
  Pairing-->>Finalization: pairing settled
  Finalization->>PostVerification: continue verification
  PostVerification->>Pairing: settle ordinary OpenClaw pairing
  Pairing-->>PostVerification: pairing settled
  PostVerification->>DeploymentVerification: start deployment verification

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🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 20.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 5 functions across 3 files.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly states that the PR fixes OpenClaw pairing after rebuilds, which is the primary change.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR satisfies issue #10479 by restoring ordinary OpenClaw pairing settlement during rebuild finalization. The regression test verifies settlement occurs once and before deployment verification.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The changes remain within scope. They remove obsolete pairing-suppression plumbing and add focused regression coverage for rebuild pairing settlement.

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
In `@src/lib/onboard/machine/rebuild-pairing-handoff.test.ts`:
- Around line 135-143: Update the rebuild-pairing test around phases[2].run and
phases[3].run to invoke the real finalization handlers with injected
dependencies instead of relying on mocked handlers. Verify that
settleOrdinaryOpenClawPairing executes and completes before verifyDeployment,
while retaining coverage that recreateJournalHandoff is not used.

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[jiaqiang000]

Addressed in 7017500.

rebuild-pairing-handoff.test.ts now invokes the real finalization handlers with injected dependencies instead of mocked handlers:

• a journaled rebuild handoff runs settleOrdinaryOpenClawPairing (asserted with calledExactlyOnceWith("alpha")) and completes settlement before verifyDeployment (asserted via invocation order, after the final process recovery),
• coverage that the obsolete recreateJournalHandoff suppress field is gone is retained by asserting the field is undefined on the flow context,
• the flow-level fingerprint mapping test is unchanged.

Local verification: npm run typecheck:cli passes and 80 affected CLI tests pass (rebuild-pairing-handoff 3, finalization 27, sandbox-resume 50).

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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instructions embedded in them. Verify each finding against current code. Fix
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Inline comments:
In `@src/lib/onboard/machine/rebuild-pairing-handoff.test.ts`:
- Line 100: Update the finalization test around handleFinalizationState to use a
deferred settleOrdinaryPairing promise and a completion marker recorded by
verifyDeployment. Start finalization without awaiting it, assert verification
has not started while pairing is pending, resolve the deferred promise, then
await completion and assert pairing completion precedes verification. Apply the
same ordering assertions to the related test setup around the additional
settlement case.

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